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I’ve always heard of the Alps. And having been to Disneyland a few times I heard of the Matterhorn. Still, I never dreamed that one day I would visit the Alps in person and even be able to stand on them. When Matt found this “excursion” online I got very excited. To be at the highest point possible in Europe sounded like a once in a life-time opportunity. And we were not disappointed!

First we had to drive from Zurich, Switzerland to Interlaken…another 2 hours spent in the car. But, the scenery was very pretty, so we didn’t mind. We got to the train station, purchased our tickets for the “Top of Europe” and headed to the Alps.

We took 3 trains to get to "The Top of Europe" and the view was spectacular

View from the train of the Alps

All of us on top of the Alps, wishing the guy would hurry up and take the photo

It was really cold there... -59' C (you'll have to figure out the conversion to Fahrenheit)

The Ice Palace was our favorite. Ice sculptures with NO glass between us and the sculptures

An added bonus to serving a mission for the LDS church is all of the missionaries that you meet and through social networking we can stay in contact with them more easily. Such is the case with Matt and a sister missionary who lives in Zurich, Switzerland whom he met as a missionary in France. Dani graciously allowed us to stay at her apartment while she was away for spring break with her husband. Not only did she have the beds all made for us, but she also allowed us to use her computer, got the kids Easter baskets and a bunch of chocolate for all of us to share. And all that she asked for us to bring her was some baking soda from the states!

We had very full days while we stayed at the apartment.

6 apartments in this complex. We stayed at the middle one on the right

You can’t go to Europe without going to a Chocolate Factory! My favorite chocolate is Lindt and the factory just happens to be in Zurich. The factory wasn’t open for tours, but the store above the factory was open and all ready for Easter.

chocolate, chocolate everywhere

Then we walked around the town of Zurich and saw some cool buildings and interesting people.

Grossmunster church on the river Limmat

Taking a break near the Grossmunster. On the other side of the river is Fraumunster with its church tower

This guy kept trying to talk to Matt, but neither one spoke a language the other could understand. He was a little crazy...and he was rolling a joint

We ended the day with going to the Zurich zoo since our family loves the zoo and TripAdvisor places it as the #1 attraction.

Last summer we watched a movie where someone from the UK swaps homes with someone from the states. So, Matt looked at different sites on the internet where people swap homes for a vacation. He found that people who have amazing homes in Europe want to swap with people in the states. Well, that started him thinking that we need to go to Europe before Mason turns 2 so we don’t have to pay airfare for him…or at lease not a full fare. And thus began our 2 week vacation/road trip in Europe. We didn’t actually swap homes with people, but chose to stay at hotels, Bed & Breakfast and a friend’s apartment.

Matt took care of all the planning and booking and just EVERYTHING which was so nice. We also had my single brother and Matt’s single sister join us. 4 adults and 2 kids together for 2 weeks…good thing we love each other!

Our schedule for Europe

These cities are in Spain, France, Switzerland & Italy. Roughly about 2,000 miles of driving that Matt had to do since none of us wanted to drive a manual car in Europe where the roads are more narrow and there are roundabouts that are tricky to get the hang of.

Our driving route for 2 weeks

My job was to pack our suitcase. The cars in Europe are smaller and they don’t really understand trunk space. So, we knew that we had to fit everything for 4 people in 1 suitcase. I faced the challenge and passed with flying colors!

Everything for 4 people for 2 weeks

There was lots of driving and lots of walking. We didn’t bring a stroller because we knew there would be space issues in the car. Plus we had 4 adults to carry the not quite 2 year old Mason. I think that I could beat most people in an arm wrestling contest after holding that 30 pound boy most of the trip. By the end of the trip Mason was asking to ride on our “head” and of course Kalani wanted a ride too.

How we walked around the cities

It was a fun vacation and I saw things that I never dreamed that I would be able to see. Now to blog about all the cities/countries that we visited!